Fairfax County Board Punts On Pension Reform

The Democrat controlled Fairfax County Board of Supervisors met on Devember 4th to address the looming crisis of an unsustainable pension program. For years the Board has failed to cure a $2.5 billion liability which threatens future retirement payments to county teachers, firefighters, police and employees. SUVGOP with Supervisor Pat Herrity released a series of videos (see below) on the pension crisis and worked all this year to raise the awareness of this growing liability.

Over 46 community members, including representatives from SUVGOP, testified at the meeting. It should be noted that every Democratic State Legislator that represents the County lobbied against a fix to the pension program. The Board vote took a small step by eliminating the pre-Social Security supplement for future county employees and an additional allowance that increases the retirement annuity by 3 percent. 

As Supervisor Herrity stated the Board took a "meaningful" step towards reforming pension costs but "missed an opportunity to develop an overall compensation plan". The Board rejected three other reforms proposed by the County Staff.

Details on the meeting can be found here: Supervisor Herrity's statement can be found on the front page of SUVGOP's website here and remember the SUVGOP video series on the Pension Problem can be found below.